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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
Great Use for Leftover Ham
This old-fashioned, creamy split pea soup is a classic for a reason. It's delicious, healthy, and is a great use for leftover ham — with or without the bone.
If you don't have a leftover ham bone, don't worry. You can purchase bone-in ham from the store any time of the year.
Make it a Meal
Enjoy this soup for dinner with a side salad and crusty bread for dipping. It makes a great lunch as well.
This soup pairs well with a side salad and cheese toast for a complete, easy meal.
Good Weekend Food
Split pea soup is thick and rich, loaded with vegetables, and seasoned with salty ham.
This recipe is one our family makes frequently. It's a from-scratch, homemade soup that's very simple to prep and cook. Perfect for lazy Sundays or days following the holidays where ham is served.
Top this soup with croutons or serve with toasted bread for added crunch.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You'll need just a small group of pretty standard ingredients. Nothing fancy!
- Dried split peas. These are key to split pea soup! They soak up the broth and all the flavors of the herbs and vegetables as they cook and soften into a smooth and creamy texture.
Thankfully split peas do not need to be soaked before cooking — just make sure to rinse them well to remove any debris.
Also, keep in mind that while split peas and green peas are the same vegetable, they are processed differently. You'll want to use split peas to avoid having to pick out pea shells. - Olive oil. This helps sauté the vegetables so they don't burn. Feel free to use butter or your favorite neutral cooking oil.
- Onion, carrot, celery, and garlic are classic ingredients for a yummy soup base and this soup is no exception.
- Fresh thyme pairs perfectly with the peas and adds a subtle herbaceousness to the soup.
- Vegetable broth. This creates a rich and flavorful base for the soup but water or chicken broth would work too.
- Bay leaves. These are added in during the cooking process then removed before serving. They add a subtle earthy, woody flavor to the soup that enhances the natural flavors of the peas and ham.
- Ham bone. This is optional but highly recommended! Ham, while very salty, can lose it's flavor quickly when combined with broth. So adding in the ham bone really enriches the ham flavor of this soup, which balances out the peas perfectly.
You can use any sized bone. It can be leftover from a dinner ham or you can purchase ham steaks with the bone in at most any grocery store. If you don't see bone-in ham pre-packaged, ask the butcher at the deli counter and they can likely get you a bone.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This recipe is so simple to make!
Here are the basic steps involved to give you an idea. The full recipe is further down.
- Dice ham and save the bone (if you have one).
- Sauté vegetables. Add thyme and garlic.
- Add broth, bay leaves, peas, and ham bone.
- Add rinses split peas. Cover and let cook.
- Add cooked ham.and simmer.
- Stir then serve with toppings as desired.
Top with croutons if desired. So easy. Dare I say, easy peasy?!
★ Tips & FAQs ★
This soup can be made in a Crockpot using the same method as the stovetop with a few adjustments. You can choose to sauté the vegetables first and add them, saving cook time, or let them cook in the broth.
If sautéing first, transfer everything to your slow cooker set to high for 1 hour to finish. Preheat your Crockpot while sautéing.
If you're not sautéing your vegetables, add everything to the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on low or 2 hours on high.
If cooking on high, I recommend stirring a few times to prevent the soup from burning on the bottom.
Remove the ham bone and bay leaves, stir, and blend when done as needed.
Store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
The soup can also be frozen for up to four months.
★ More Leftove Ham Recipes ★
Love soups? Me too!
Browse all my favorite soup recipes. Be sure to Pin your favorites for later.
Want more dinner ideas?
This old-fashion split pea soup recipe made using a ham bone was featured on South Your Mouth!
Ham Bone Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried split peas
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup diced onion
- ½ cup diced carrot
- ½ cup diced celery
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup diced cooked ham
- 1 ham bone
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Instructions
- Rinse dried split peas under cold water and set aside.
- Sauté vegetables. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the vegetables begin soften. Add garlic and thyme and cook for an additional minute.
- Add broth. Add vegetable broth to the pot, then add the rinsed split peas and bay leaves. Stir well to combine. If you have a ham bone add it to the pot.
- Simmer soup. Bring soup to a boil over high heat and then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Remove lid and stirring occasionally.
- Add ham, simmer longer. After 30 minutes, add diced ham, cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Check then serve. After one hour, check the split peas to see if they’re tender all the way through. If so, remove the bay leaves and ham bone, stir to combine and serve!If not, cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes or longer as need until split peas are completely softened.
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